Save Bhopal Sparrows

Friday, March 18, 2016

March 20 is World House Sparrow day, indeed they are declining in Bhopal. One may or may not notice. Increasing number of mobile towers, concrete replacing mud, destruction of jungle belt, one can see that they are somehow going missing. Ubiquitous urban bird is denied place to live, shelter and food. Little one can do is to keep bowl of water, but also contribute by serving food to them, and encourage their existence wherever possible.

This March 20, why not do walk the talk with house sparrow, try and go birding and see them, you will feel relaxed, bird has interesting and engaging activity. It is an interesting one to click....do think and if possible do something for your own city and its inhabitant - House Sparrow !

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

House Sparrowor Passer domesticus is abird of the sparrow, family Passeridae, is
one of commonest birds, though in recent times its population is declining in
many cities In India including Bhopal. If one notices change around one
neighborhood in last few years, you may have noticed them missing, or missing sometimes. Though sparrows are still a present in rural
Madhya Pradesh, which are is more agriculture dependent, however, its density
isdeclining in the urban areas of Bhopal,
Indore etc, when compared to the other commonly bird species which exists in
the urban areas.

But do people of Bhopal feel the change ?More than 100 people in age group of 18- 62
were asked fewquestions and around 85 %
feel that yes Sparrows are decreasing in numbers in the city which is rapidly
growing in building and losing its green cover.

Time for us to think and take some action to save sparrows. Bhopal still has number of these winged human
friends but the way construction is happening, mobile companies are building
their towers, and increase in pollution will impact lives of these housebirds.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

It was early morning of November a narrow road of Bawadiya kalan, at outskirts of Bhopal an expanding capital city of Madhya Pradesh, mornings used to be very interesting particularly for birder. One did not had to go far away to site birds, they were their next to ones house.

One could enjoy chirping call of house sparrow, their playful movement of straws twigged in their tweaks, enjoying them in dust and with grains along with other birds like red vented bulbul and Indian silver bills.
But few months later they have gone missing.

The small tree, shrubs and mounds of mud which used to be play ground for the little passerine birds has now been replaced with concrete.
Thanks to growing urbanization in Bhopal.
Road of concrete has replaced the shrubs, and trees.
The sound and playful movements of passerine bird are gone and remain in pictures and hearts of people who enjoyed them.

May be she may have searched for a new home, but I could not site nothing closer, as we have cellphone tower next and its radiations are ‘said to be killer of this little species’.

House Sparrow or Passer domesticus is a bird of the sparrow, family Passeridae, and is found commonly in India and World.
It was described by Ornithologist Salim Ali as “hanger-on of man” found ubiquitous, omnivorous which eats grain, insects fruit buds, kitchen scraps etc.

Its association with humans, is an old one, chirping notes are well recognized from our childhood days, something which new generation may miss and is found mention in literature, folk songs etc.
It is one of commonest birds, though in recent times its population is declining in many cities In India.

If one notices change around one neighborhood in last few years, you may have noticed them missing, if not you are lucky one.
Though house sparrows are still a dominant species in the rural parts of Madhya Pradesh, which are more agriculture dependent.

However, its density is declining in the urban areas of Bhopal, Indore etc, when compared to the other commonly bird species which exists in the urban areas.
House sparrow is highly adaptable bird, but rapid urbanization in Bhopal, many parts of the city which used to be fields have been converted into ‘boxes’, concrete boxes of flats and duplexes.

New constructions are not as attractive to the sparrow as they provide little opportunities to nest.
Loss of green cover of trees, changing architecture of human habitation, increasing use of steel and glass, has deprived the house sparrows of nesting sites.
Mobile towers, increasing roads, pavements, missing wells, use of mosquito pesticides, have contributed and added to its decline.

One can hardly notice nest of house sparrows on mobile towers.
All is not gone, Bhopal thanks to its pending green cover, still has sparrows and our effort should be in direction to see that we make space for the little bird, may be have small garden wherever however possible, and as temperature rise, put a bowel of water and abundant food on rooftops to add space for the little one and enjoy her chirp around ones households.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

House sparrow found in and around human habitations is called as a confirmed hanger on to man. There is lot of discussion on the how the population of house sparrow which nests close to human habitats is getting threatened due to mobile phone towers. It is said that sparrow is known to be sensitive to magnetic radiation and these waves interfere with their sensors and misguide them while navigating.

A study done by Anjan, D., Dipak, B., Dibyendu, C., titled as 'The case of disappearing House Sparrow (Passer Domesticus Indicus)' published in Veterinary World, 2010, 3(2): 97-100, population of Passer domesticus was found fast disappearing from areas contaminated with electromagnetic waves arising out of increased number of cell phones,in Bhopal, Nagpur, Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwaliar, Chhindwara, Indore and Betul. The reference of this study was quoted in Research paper titled ‘PASSER DOMESTICUS- A DISAPPEARING SPECIES DUE TO INCREASING EFFECTS OF ELECTRO MAGNETIC RADIATIONS (EMRS) by Abdulganee Memon1, Hamza Sheth1, Dr. P U Patel2, Mohsin Ansari as Published in International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Science Archive 1 (1) 2013, 71-760

Monday, March 18, 2013

The little house sparrow also known scientifically Passer domesticus, one of the birds people like me can remember from your childhood. Their nests could be seen in almost every house and in like bus stands, parks, railway stations etc.. Association between humans and the house sparrow dated back to several centuries and no other bird has been associated with humans on a daily basis like the house sparrow. It evokes fond memories and has thus found mention in folklore and songs from time immemorial. But now it is disappearing, in cities including Bhopal…we need an effort to save them…let’s do our bit..

The house sparrow is little chunky bird, whose nests dotted almost every house in the neighbourhood as well as public places like bus stands and railway stations, where they lived in colonies and survived on foodgrains and tiny worms, is now a disappearing species.

Bhopal has still number of sparrows though at many places they have disappeared thanks to the way construction is happening. It is builder's lobby, mobile companies, and pollution which are causing changes in urban habitat, modification in architecture, excessive use of microwaves by installingmobile towers and pollutions which is impacting the lives of these housebirds. There are number of places in each and every corner of Bhopal where sparrows used to be there and now are diminishing, thanks to construction work which is destroying their homes.

Interestingly sparrows are not found in jungles, deserts or places where humans are not present. The sparrow is a species that has evolved with humans and is always found in and around human habitations. Time for us to think and take some action to save sparrows or we will have to live in sparrow less, concrete Bhopal !

Monday, March 19, 2012

March 20 is World Sparrow day, a time to remind us that we need to help save this human friend. Though outskirts of Bhopal you can see them, though they are vanishing awayin cities including Bhopal which has shown decline in its population. Let's come together and use all mediums to spread the word and help save sparrows of the Bhopal and World !

IANS, Dushyant Parasher : For a long, long time, the chubby, chirpy house sparrow lived in our midst aplenty. Now, you can't find them in the urban environment any more. All this has happened in a span of just a few years. India is not the only place where the sparrows have disappeared from the cities.

In the Netherlands, they are already an endangered species. In Britain, their population is dropping at such an alarming rate that they are now in the red list as a species of 'high conservation concern'. In France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Finland, the story is not very different.

This is an environmental alarm bell at its loudest.

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a common bird that millenniums ago originated in the Mediterranean and came into Europe and Asia with the spread of agriculture. It was carried across the Atlantic in mid-19th century as a friend, to help clean up green inchworms from the trees of New York's Central Park.

It was the most widely distributed species of the world.

Today it is suddenly disappearing in the urban environment. What this translates into is that the modern urbanization has reached a level where it can trigger the extinction of a species. In the past, when the cities were small and there were villages around, with agricultural land around them, these were vast lungs of open spaces that separated the urban and the rural, constantly replenished the air.

In the fields there were occasional clusters of indigenous fruit trees and bushes that were ideal nesting places for a number of birds including sparrows. At such places, there was also a pond that got filled each year with the monsoon spillover from the entire region. In the fields and the grazing lands there were thorny bushes and trees that provided safe nesting havens for sparrows and other small birds that kept the area clean of insects. The insects made ideal infant food for their young ones.

For the first 15 days of their life, house sparrow offsprings live entirely on these juicy morsels. In those days, the crop was harvested and gathered at one place where the grain was separated from the chaff, giving ample time to the sparrow to take their share for their pest control services rendered to the farmer.

When the harvest moved to the open grain markets, the birds still had a chance to peck at it. Back in the household when women cleaned the grain in courtyards, sparrows were always a constant companion, feeding on the stray seeds of weeds that were separated and discarded. As fields, bushes, tree clusters, marshes and the water bodies disappear, they are being replaced by urban dwellings, watertight pavements and roads. Naturally, only some habitants of the erstwhile eco-system are able to survive.

With no food or safe nesting, birds perish or migrate to more agreeable habitat.

In the absence of smaller birds that feed on them, insects such as maggots and flies thrive and carry disease to the human dwellings. It is not the first time the house sparrows have been ousted from cities. In the early 20th century when Europe started shifting from horse-driven transport to motorised vehicles, the house sparrow population in many cities is said to have declined by two-third. The cause cited was the lack of cereal fed to the horses in the open -- a key food supply for birds.

Today the reasons for the sparrows' decline are largely electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones and lack of insect food due to excessive use of pesticide in urban gardens. But most certainly, it is the loss of habitat that drives any species towards extinction.

Our gardens and parks are hardly any habitat for birds. In an open canopy environment with broom cleaned floor, there is neither nesting material nor food or security from predators. Can we not think of 'Mini Forests' within the urban set-up? These should have little ponds to collect the rain run off in small wetlands, where indigenous aquatic plants can grow and where water birds in small numbers can find sustenance.

The 'forests' should have fruit-bearing trees forming a low-rise canopy. There should be unchecked undergrowth to provide shelter to ground feeding birds and their insect prey. Here bird droppings and leaf litter should be the only manure.

Once such a system is established, there will be no need to water the 'forests'. It will be an ideal home for a host of birds and other forms of life. These 'forests' will demand nothing from us other than our absence. And, for all you know, the house sparrow may even stage a come back!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Urban habitations and changing architecture are also one of the factors which impact on decline in population of sparrows. It does not support growth of nests of sparrows as they nest at low heights on trees or holes & cervices within buildings. But city like Bhopal which still has some 'unsold' area left and has bushes, greenery, landscapes, it is possible to retain sparrows in Bhopal as compared with mega cities. In upcoming new colonies, way to retain and save them will be to make sure that new colonies should have compulsory gardens, with trees and climber plants. And availability of 'water for garden' should be made compulsory for the builder so that we retain places for sparrows to breed.

A study published in Shodh, Samikshaaur Mulyankan (International Research Journal, Vol. II, Issue-7 (published in August 2009) on Effects of cell phone radition on Gauriya sparrows - Passer Domesticus by S D Dongre and R G Verma of Department of Zoology, Jayvanti Haksar Government Post Graduate College, Betul. concluded that the Passer domesticus are fast disappearing from contaminated with electromagnetic waves arising out of increased number of cell phone to Bhopal, Nagpur, Jablpur, Ujjain, Gwaliar, Chhindwara, Indore & Betul.Wireless telecom revolution is catching on at the expense of a tiny winged creature the Passer domesticus. The National Research Council of Canada did lots of studies on the non-thermal effects of microwave radiation on birds in the 1960s, before the wireless industry tookThey found that bird feathers acted as dielectric receptors. Birds that had been plucked under anesthesia showed no reaction to radiation until the 12th day, when their feathers started to grow back. Studies also showed altered EEG patterns, escape behaviour, other signs of stress in the form of vocalization, defecation and initiation of flight.

In the study the researchers had examined small scale geographic variation in the number of Gauriya bird and the strength of electromagnetic radiation from cell phone base station. The long term exposure to low intensity electromagnetic radiation 900-1900 MHz down link frequency from cell phone base station on the number of Passer domesticus during the rainy , winter and summer season was studied in the Bhopal, Nagpur, Jabalpur, Gwaliar, Indore, Ujjain, Chhindwara & Betul .

As per research article published by Alfonso Balmori1 and Örjan Hallberg on the Urban Decline of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus): A Possible Link with Electromagnetic Radiation based on study done in Spain suggest that electromagnetic signals are associated with the observed decline in the sparrow population. The paper was published in Informa Healthcare. In the results of the paper they say 'We conclude that electromagnetic pollution may be responsible, either by itself or in combination with other factors, for the observed decline of the species in European cities during recent years. The appearently strong dependence between bird density and field strength according to this work could be used for a more controlled study to test the hypothesis'. Bhopal which has number of mobile companies with their expanding tower networks, will be impacting house sparrows.

Friday, March 18, 2011

This year March is hot, and with water levels declining, many have started keeping a vessel outside their homes for the birds to get a breather as temprature climb up in the city ! In picture a house sparrow over water vessel...kept in house in Nehru Nagar.

House sparrow is the most familiar bird which is associated with human habitation. Be it a growing city like Bhopal or a village in interiors of India one can hear chirping call notes of house sparrows and see the birds fluffing its feathers.But their population is declining, and to draw attention to this species March 20, is marked as World House Sparrow Day. Promoted by Nature Forever Society, in collaboration with the Bombay Natural History Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology (U.S.), Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France), Avon Wildlife Trust (U.K.) and numerous other organizations, it is an effort to raise awareness about the decline of the bird and bring out the problems faced by the bird in discourse. Declining population of the bird provides a warning that the urban ecosystem is experiencing some environmental changes unsuitable for human health in the immediate future. The house sparrow is a species that has evolved with humans and is always found in and around human habitations, and is one of the indicator of urban ecosystem. With growing in urbanization in India, need is to monitor the changes happening to this little bird.

House sparrow normally nests in collection of straws, feathers or rubbish, within households are near our surroundings. In a village it is seen within compounds in the house and reminds of old time where they were found under a picture frame in house compound or inside a parapet, or inside stores.

Bhopal which is growing city, with rapid growth in urbanization, tress are giving way to concrete, their population is declining. Modification in urban architecture, with new style building and flats coming up giving limited space for their nesting ground, excessive use of microwaves by installing mobile towers and increased in pollution levels is impacting lives of these house birds. Since many of the factors responsible for this decline are manmade, hence the day is call to attention and giving them space in our lives.

April, 2010 - March 20, 2010 was World House Sparrow Day. The diminutive house sparrow ( Passer domesticus), whose nests dotted almost every house in the neighbourhood as well as public places like bus stands and railway stations, where they lived in colonies and survived on foodgrains and tiny worms, is now a disappearing species. Bhopal has still number of sparrows though at many places they have disappeared thanks to the way construction is happening. It is builder's lobby, mobile companies, and pollution which are causing changes in urban habitat, modification in architecture, excessive use of microwaves by installing mobile towers and pollutions which is impacting the lives of these housebirds.

Interestingly sparrows are not found in jungles, deserts or places where humans are not present. The sparrow is a species that has evolved with humans and is always found in and around human habitations. Time for us to think and take some action to save sparrows or we will have to live in sparrow less, concrete Bhopal !